[Jazz & Song] Dylan, Bob. (b. 1941). Newport Folk Festival Program (1965). Bob Dylan gave memorable, groundbreaking folk music performances at Newport in 1963 and 1964, but his appearance at the 1965 festival is remembered for other reasons. There are two wildly divergent accounts of the crowd's response when Dylan debuted an electric set. One version of the legend says the boos were from the outraged folk fans Dylan alienated with his electric guitar; the other has it that audience members were upset by poor sound quality and a surprisingly short set.


The settled fact is that Dylan, met with a mix of cheering and booing, left the stage after only three songs ("Maggie's Farm," "Like a Rolling Stone," and "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry"). Despite the crowd's disfavor, he later re-emerged and sang two much better received solo acoustic numbers, "Mr. Tambourine Man" and, appropriately, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue."


Footage of Dylan's performance at the festival surfaced in 2005 in Martin Scorsese's documentary No Direction Home. The footage begins with emcee Peter Yarrow's introduction of Dylan, and the sound of loud booing and sporadic cheering begins just a few bars into "Maggie's Farm" and continues throughout the next song, "Like a Rolling Stone." Ultimately, Dylan stuck to his electric guns and took his music into new, unfamiliar territory, and did not return to Newport until 2002.


This program from the infamous '65 festival is in fine condition with light wear, moderate soiling and tanning to the covers, with very clean, crisp pages. A surreal page-and-a-half short story by Dylan titled "Of the Top of My Head" begins on page 17. A rare item from a pivotal moment in American Pop music history